GSM Galaxy Nexus updated to Android 4.0.2; we test: some fixes, many bugs still remain

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  • January 14, 2012 at 10:13 am

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Galaxy Nexus Android Ice Cream Sandwich keypad

An over-the-air (OTA) update to Android 4.0.2 has been rolling out to the GSM/HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus — the Verizon LTE Galaxy Nexus is already at version 4.0.2. We’ve been testing it out on our device for the past 48 hours and here are the initial results.

As we mentioned in our full-length review of the Galaxy Nexus, it has had a buggy launch and some of the well published bugs have been plaguing my device as well. Mind you this is the second Galaxy Nexus I’m burning through, since the first one had an unfortunate accident.

Specifically, I’ve had the occasional random restart, the Wi-Fi hotspot won’t work with my MacBook under MacOS X and while in a call, after pressing the speaker button the other person can’t hear me. You could also consider the screen’s yellow tint as something of an annoyance. I’ve experience a couple of occasional minor issues, like hangs on 3G data connectivity and a confused volume rocker tht would change media instead of the ringtone volume.
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The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx is a smartphone with staying power, coming January 26

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  • January 13, 2012 at 7:20 pm

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Motorola Droid Razr Maxx - all views

We like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, no, we really like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx for one specific reason, it comes with an immense 3,300mAh battery and it remains ‘razr’ thin. As we saw when we initially covered the Razr Maxx, the smartphone is pretty much the same as the standard Droid Razr, with a bigger battery.

Thanks to Motorola, we now know that it’s coming on January 26th on Verizon for $299 with a two-year contract. To recap, you get a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD (540 x 960) display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 16 GB internal storage with an additional 16 GB microSD card pre-installed, it has Kevlar backing and splash-proof coating. The 3,300mAh battery give the Razr Maxx over 21 hours of talk time, and makes us grin in bliss. The extra battery adds a bit of girth to the device, the original Razr measures 7mm thick, the Razr Maxx is still just 8.9mm.
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Sony Xperia S Android handset gets UK pricing and March 5 release date

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  • January 13, 2012 at 8:22 am

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Sony Xperia S camera landscape

Sony announced its latest Xperia S Android handset at CES this week and we now have UK pricing and availability. The Xperia S (a.k.a. Nozomi) will be released on March 5th in the UK for £468 ($719 and €560) for the 32GB version, at least according to mobile device online retailer Clove.

The Xperia S has a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 gap-less optically laminated display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a impressive 12-megapixel Exmor back-lit sensor rear camera.

It will be sold in both white and black, though initially the white Xperia S will be a Phones4U UK exclusive. The Xperia S includes NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HDMI, together with GPS and GLONASS navigation support. There is no external microSD card slot — so it would probably mean no mass storage support — and it will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Sony however promised that it will be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich in the second quarter of the year. Did we mentioned it’s also PlayStation certified.

HP TouchPad now seen running Android 4.0 thanks to CyanogenMod 9 (video)

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  • January 13, 2012 at 7:36 am

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HP TouchPad running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

The CyanogenMod Android custom ROM may have just reached an important milestone of 1 million installs, but as we’ve said before, it’s getting ready for even bigger things to come. One of these, is to liberate the HP TouchPad from the uncertainties and lack of app support of WebOS.

We’ve already seen CyanogenMod 7 (CM7) running on the tablet. But the install was plagued with a bunch of issues and CM7 is based on the not so tablet-friendly Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The CM team has been fiendishly working on the latest version of the ROM, CyanogenMod 9 (CM9), which is based on the spanking new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Although a final stable build of CM9 has not yet been released for any device, the aftermarket ROM has already found its place on the HP TouchPad. It also seems that significant progress has been made since the last time we saw the TouchPad flirting with Android and CM. As you can see in the preview video below, everything is working pretty smoothly, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Only key sticking points remain the camera and video playback.
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CyanogenMod breaks 1 million installs mark

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  • January 12, 2012 at 1:54 pm

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CyanogenMod ROM

Android’s real strength is in its developer community. If you want an additional feature not included in stock Android or if you like customizing your devices to death, Android’s developers and aftermarket ROMs will come to your rescue. Aftermarket ROMs can also give old devices new life, and even though manufacturers may take their sweet time updating Android devices, you may find a custom ROM for your device based on the latest version of Android.

One of the most popular Android aftermarket ROMs comes from the CyanogenMod team, which has today reached an important juncture. CyanogenMod had now been installed on over 1 million devices. We’d like to congratulate the team on their success and wish them all the best on their future developing exploits. We are sure that with the advent of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich based CyanogenMod 9, the number of installs will really skyrocket.
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Google Search for Android 2.2, 2.3 and 3.x now faster with a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich

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  • January 12, 2012 at 3:51 am

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Google Search app for Android update 1.3.3
Search is an integral part of Android, Google is search first and foremost after all. The search giant is now pushing an update for the Google Search app to Android 2.2, 2.3 and 3.x devices, which should bring some of the functionality, performance and looks adopted in the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich version.

Google is claiming that you will notice how faster and smoother this new version is. New features include a simplified user interface, search results are now grouped by type, there are country-specific search results, while you can now remove search history items.
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Sony Xperia S, a.k.a. Nozomi, 4.3-inch 720p display 1.5GHz dual-core smartphone announced (video)

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  • January 10, 2012 at 6:10 am

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Sony Xperia S 4.3-inch Android smartphone - black and white

We’ve been hearing about the Sony Ericsson Nozomi smartphone for a while. Well plain Sony now (yeah it’s finally officially dropped Ericsson) officially announced the Xperia S Android smartphone on Monday. We already knew that it was good looking but we now have the full confirmed specs for the device.

The Sony Xperia S has a large 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 gap-less optically laminated display and features a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. The rear camera is a massive 12-megapixel Exmor R back-lit sensor affair and can shoot up to 1080p HD video; the front facing camera is 1.3-megapixels. You get all the typical Wi-Fi, GPS, HDMI ports together with NFC and DLNA support. The Xperia S will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors, though there is no microSD card slot for expandable storage.
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Asus and NVIDIA announce 7-inch Tegra 3 quad-core tablet with Ice Cream Sandwich for $249

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  • January 10, 2012 at 3:35 am

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Asus 7-inch NVIDIA Tegra 3 tablet ME370T

There are a lot of new tablets at CES this year. The biggest piece of news however has just come in today. NVIDIA has announced that a 7-inch version of the Asus Transformer Prime, which will also run on the Tegra 3 quad-core SoC and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, is coming soon. The Asus ME370T tablet will sell for $249 at launch.

This completely blows the under-powered and barebones $199 Kinde Fire and $249 Nook Tablet out the water. Besides the super fast Tegra 3 chip, the 7-inch Asus tablet will have a 1280 x 800 screen resolution and an 8-megapixel camera.
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Lenovo IdeaTab S2 10-inch tablet with Android 4.0 and keyboard dock

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  • January 9, 2012 at 4:38 am

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Lenovo IdeaTab S2 10.1-inch Android tablet with keyboard dock

Did we mention we are expecting an onslaught of Android tablets at CES 2012? Hot on the heels of Acer’s Ice Cream Sandwich bearing Iconia Tab A700, Lenovo has announced its own Android 4.0 tablet. The Lenovo IdeaTab S2 with a 10.1-inch IPS LCD 1280×800 resolution and Qualcomm’s latest 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 SoC. Similar to the Asus Trasformer Prime, the IdeaTab S2 can be used with a detachable keyboard dock.

Thin is the game now, and the S2 tablet measures just 0.34 inches thick and weighs a mere 1.1 lbs. Lenovo claims a 20 hours runtime when the tablet is paired with its keyboard dock. We’ve mentioned that it will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, though Lenovo will slap its own Mondrian UI on top. You get the typical set of Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, micro-USB and micro HDMI. The S2 is said to come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB flavors, though no pricing or availability has been made public yet.
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Acer Iconia Tab A700 10-inch tablet with 1080p display, quad-core Tegra 3 and Android 4.0

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  • January 8, 2012 at 6:47 pm

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Acer Iconia Tab A700

CES 2012 is expected to open the floodgates for new tablets, yet Acer has managed to put its competitor early in. The Acer Iconia Tab A700 is a 10.1-inch tablet with some spectacular specs. The screen has a full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, it runs on the quad-core Tegra 3 SoC, which is clocked at 1.3GHz, and will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich pre-installed.

Of course you get a typical set of ports, like micro-USB and HMDI, and connectivity, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and 3G, together with a 5-megapixel rear camera and a front-facing camera for video chatting. The A700 also boasts Dolby Mobile sound. Measuring 9.8mm thick, it might not be the thinnest tablet around but with a 9,800 mAh battery you’ll be pleased to carry it all day with you.
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Motorola XT535 could become the newest member in the Defy rugged family; Defy+ successor?

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  • January 8, 2012 at 3:24 am

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Motorola Defy XT535

We’ve reviewed the Motorola Defy+ in detail and we’ve quickly looked at the new smaller Defy Mini (XT320). A new device has just appeared, the Motorola XT535, which seems will take place as the newest brother in the Defy family.

Based on leaked photos the XT535 has a similar back as the Defy+, together with the same sort of watertight back cover locking mechanism and port flaps, which lead us to think this will be another Defy smartphone. A Japanese blog has the dimensions for this device as 115 x 58 x 11.9mm against 107 x 59 x 13.4mm for the Defy+. The new Defy is almost 1cm taller but also thinner. The increased height could be taken up by the new extended bottom bezel, which seems to be housing a speaker, so it could still be a 3.7-inch device like the Defy+ or perhaps house a slightly bigger screen. The XT535 could turn out to be the successor of the successful Defy+.
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Sony Ericsson MT27i Pepper mid-range 3.7-inch Android smartphone gets first leaked images

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  • January 7, 2012 at 1:12 pm

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Sony Ericsson MT27i Pepper leaked image front

We’ve already seen evidence of two new Xperia smartphones by Sony Ericsson, the well documented Sony Ericsson LT26i Xperia Arc HD Nozomi and a yet unnamed large-screened Xperia smartphone with an off-center rear camera and lanyard loop-hole.

XperiaBlog has just unearthed a third new Xperia smartphone, the Sony Ericsson MT27i Pepper. According to the blog, it will be a mid-range device, and a successor to the Xperia Neo. It has taken some design cues from the Nozomi, but will feature a smaller 3.7-inch 480×854 display. The Peper is said to ran on a 1GHz dual-core processor and will have a 5-megapixel rear camera.
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OLPC XO 3.0 tablet to debut at CES: 8-inch configurable with Pixel Qi display and Android starting under $100

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  • January 7, 2012 at 4:51 am

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OLPC XO 3.0 tablet early concept

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has just announced that the organization’s promised under $100 XO 3.0 tablet will be shown off at CES 2012. OLPC will also be delivering its first XO 1.75 laptop orders in March to school children in Uruguay and Nicaragua.

Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of OLPC, announced the XO tablet over four years ago, however the development process overrun the 2010 initial delivery date. The XO 3.0 tablet was designed by Yves Behar, who’s also designed the XO laptop and the B&N Nook Color. Above is the initial concept render of the XO 3.0, though the design may have now changed.

Based on preliminary specs the XO 3.0 tablet will have an 8-inch 4:3 1024 x 768-resolution display configurable as either a standard LCD or a dual-mode Pixel Qi sunlight-readable screen. It will run on a Marvell Armada PXA618 SoC, with either 512MB or 1GB DDR3 RAM and 5GB to 16GB of NAND storage. Approximate weight will be 0.5kg (around 1lbs).
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I broke the Galaxy Nexus screen

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  • January 6, 2012 at 12:51 pm

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Galaxy Nexus cracked and chipped screen

This is a quote from our recent review of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus: A large glass front, plastic body, limited ruggedization and slippery sides could spell out disaster without a case.

Well, during the holidays I was juggling one too many things and my naked (sin-case) Galaxy Nexus slipped out of my hand and landed on a hard floor from a height of about two feet. Its back cover and battery went flying off, but since the fall wasn’t too bad I picked it up without thinking that anything seriously bad happened to it. As I went to wipe the screen on my shirt I saw the long crack across it, while a piece of glass had chipped from the bottom corner where the phone had landed.

Obviously manufacturers don’t design average devices to survive drops, that’s why rugged smartphones exist. The Galaxy Nexus has a fortified glass screen, but that’s to protect it from scratches, obviously glass can still shatter, and the bigger the surface the easier it is to crack — though we are hopping the new Gorilla Glass 2 material will be more shatter-proof.

Nevertheless this isn’t the first smartphone I’ve dropped; I’m actually a serial phone-dropper. My long-term Android smartphones have been a Nexus One and an HTC Sensation, both of which have suffered some pretty nasty falls (without a case) and both have so far survived pretty well.
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